Smith noted that improvement efforts within the district seem to be paying dividends.

"We are extremely pleased with the steady academic improvements we have been seeing the past few years," he said. "In areas of academic performance such as mathematics and English language arts, we are seeing an increase in the percentage of students rated proficient in almost every category and student group."

He said that every school site has been rated safe by the Oregon Department of Education, and the district only had two expulsions registered last year.

"Science student performance showed increases in student proficiency in two out of three measured grades, fifth and eighth," Smith said.

Although the news is overwhelmingly positive, there is still room for improvement, he said.

"We had a 1 percent drop in our freshman on-track data, and a slight dip in sixth grade English language arts," reported Smith.

"We also had a significant drop in 11th grade science. We need to continue a relentless focus on the improvement in the percentage of students deemed proficient until every student has the skills he or she needs to be career or college ready by the time they graduate".